I am on a mission to persuade my colleagues that the statistical analysis of crystal structures is a useful teaching tool. One colleague asked for a demonstration and suggested exploring the classical Jahn-Teller effect (thanks Milo!). This is a geometrical distortion associated with certain molecular electronic configurations, of which the best example is illustrated by octahedral copper complexes which have a d9 electronic configuration. The eg level shown below is occupied by three electrons and which can therefore distort in one of two ways to eliminate the eg degeneracy by placing the odd electron into either a x2-y2 or a z2 orbital. Here I explore how this effect can be teased out of crystal structures.
Posts Tagged ‘Edward Teller’
Discovering chemical concepts from crystal structure statistics: The Jahn-Teller effect
Saturday, May 30th, 2015Tags:basic search, Chemical bond, chemical bonding, Chemistry, classical Jahn-Teller, clear Jahn-Teller, Coordination chemistry, Coordination complex, Copper(II) nitrate, dynamic Jahn-Teller, Edward Teller, Inorganic chemistry, Jahn-Teller, Jahn–Teller effect, Metal ions in aqueous solution, search criteria, Technology/Internet, Transition metals
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